[T77]

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This is my first Stephenson novel, I found his writing very pretentious, like he was trying to show off or show he was a better writer than he really is. He had a good plot idea, but I felt he could of done a better job with it, not to mention it meandered needlessly in places. That said, I enjoyed it, I liked the atmosphere, some of the characters and it was interesting, he had some good ideas. I will read The Diamond Age next.

[amphibian]

Astra, on 21 October 2010 - 11:44 AM, said:

amphibian, on 21 October 2010 - 06:18 AM, said:

Under Heaven wasn't very good. I'd rate it as "passable".

I think you are the first person who doesn't like it. Actually, the second, but the first one who says it besides me.

I loved Tigana and The Last Light of the Sun
Was not impressed by A Song for Arbonne
Disliked The Lions of Al-Rassan
Under Heaven as you rightfully observed is only passable.

Last Light of the Sun was terrible. Ysabel was even worse.

If Pat's saying Under Heaven is GGK's best work - surpassing The Lions of Al-Rassan - I'm giving him a pass from now on.

I also gave up on 2666 by Bolano about 150 pages in. I don't give a crap about any of the characters and there isn't enough of a narrative for me to go on. This is an odd criticism for me to make, as I rather like Thomas Pynchon books.

[Zanth13]

Charlie Wilson's War
-The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of our Times-
by George Crile

This post has been edited by Zanth13: 26 October 2010 - 02:13 AM

[Lousy]

T77, on 25 October 2010 - 06:17 PM, said:

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This is my first Stephenson novel, I found his writing very pretentious, like he was trying to show off or show he was a better writer than he really is. He had a good plot idea, but I felt he could of done a better job with it, not to mention it meandered needlessly in places. That said, I enjoyed it, I liked the atmosphere, some of the characters and it was interesting, he had some good ideas. I will read The Diamond Age next.

I felt the same way about his writing, I believe I had begun to read something in his Baroque Cycle .. it was very off-putting. Gave it up, good to hear that you didn't find him a total lost cause. I'll have to give him another try at some point - tnx..

[QuickTidal]

Finished AVEMPARTHA in a day of reading, and now I am onto the 3rd book in Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations NYPHRON RISING! Woot!

[Morgoth]

jitsukerr, on 25 October 2010 - 09:36 AM, said:

IMO, much of the vitriol directed at books 7-10 was because people were waiting for those books for a long time, and their perceived flaws became exaggerated as a result of people's frustration. Reports from readers who get through them in sequence without having to wait are generally much more positive, now that all the books up to and including 12 are available.

Think of books 7-10 as the middle book of a very long series -- it helps. There are some important developments in 7-10 that drive much of the good stuff in 11 and 12.

That's a lot of nonsense in my opinion. I finished book 1-8 just as book 9 came out and I couldn't stand 7, 8, or 9. The only reason I bought 9 was because I couldn't believe he'd produce another volume as atrocious. I've yet to read any of the later books.

Sure, I can see a thing here or there that would be important to the further development of the series, but then, you can find that sort of stuff in Goodkind too. It's not something that's tied to the quality of a book.

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

jitsukerr, on 25 October 2010 - 09:36 AM, said:

IMO, much of the vitriol directed at books 7-10 was because people were waiting for those books for a long time, and their perceived flaws became exaggerated as a result of people's frustration. Reports from readers who get through them in sequence without having to wait are generally much more positive, now that all the books up to and including 12 are available.

Think of books 7-10 as the middle book of a very long series -- it helps. There are some important developments in 7-10 that drive much of the good stuff in 11 and 12.

I second that. I didn't have to wait for 7 to 10, nor did I have any problem reading them. Sure, I agree that they're not as good as the others but I never reached a point where I didn't want to continue anymore and had to force myself to carry on. Probably the most tedious bits are those Perrin chapters, in my opinion.

If you skim over practically the middle third of the series, you will miss a whole load of important developments.

[Thel Akai]

Lousy, on 26 October 2010 - 02:35 AM, said:

T77, on 25 October 2010 - 06:17 PM, said:

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This is my first Stephenson novel, I found his writing very pretentious, like he was trying to show off or show he was a better writer than he really is. He had a good plot idea, but I felt he could of done a better job with it, not to mention it meandered needlessly in places. That said, I enjoyed it, I liked the atmosphere, some of the characters and it was interesting, he had some good ideas. I will read The Diamond Age next.

I felt the same way about his writing, I believe I had begun to read something in his Baroque Cycle .. it was very off-putting. Gave it up, good to hear that you didn't find him a total lost cause. I'll have to give him another try at some point - tnx..

I loved Snow Crash. The only problem I found is what's behind the title.. everything was quite good, seen from a hard SF point, except that one. Relatively minor point though. Won't spoil too much, I'll just mention that connecting a monitor via an analogue TV tuner went out of fashion around 1982..

[Abyss]

re Stephenson - I liked SNOW CRASH a lot. Kind of a lighthearted version of Gibson's much darker cyberpunk. DIAMOND AGE was ok. Not brilliant but it held my attention. CRYPTO'... well, there were good bits, and there were more boring technobabble bits, and the ending was irritating more than anything else. As the BAROQUE CYCLE was apparently more of the same i gave it a miss. I've been told ANATHEM is worth a read and will likely check it eventually.

re WoT - I jumped into the series just as LoC came out, so it was awesome at the time. The came 7-9 and the attendant delays. Dunno how a reread will fly.

[Thel Akai]

I liked the Baroque cycle and I liked Anathem. For the latter it helps if you don't get bored by some geometry lessons.. they're mostly fun, really. What's quite different with the Baroque cycle compared to Cryptonomicon is that the former will teach you a lot of history (obviously you'll have to sort out the fiction from the non-fiction, but it's not too hard). I didn't know anything about King Charles I before, now I know a lot, starting with his head getting chopped off. Reading the series got me interested in a lot of history I hadn't read before, so I have lately updated myself on stuff touched in the books. The Baroque cycle is a GREAT introduction to the time period.

This post has been edited by Thel Akai: 26 October 2010 - 02:51 PM

[T77]

Lousy, on 26 October 2010 - 02:35 AM, said:

T77, on 25 October 2010 - 06:17 PM, said:

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. This is my first Stephenson novel, I found his writing very pretentious, like he was trying to show off or show he was a better writer than he really is. He had a good plot idea, but I felt he could of done a better job with it, not to mention it meandered needlessly in places. That said, I enjoyed it, I liked the atmosphere, some of the characters and it was interesting, he had some good ideas. I will read The Diamond Age next.

I felt the same way about his writing, I believe I had begun to read something in his Baroque Cycle .. it was very off-putting. Gave it up, good to hear that you didn't find him a total lost cause. I'll have to give him another try at some point - tnx..

His writing style in the The Diamond Age so far is quite different from Snow Crash and I would say that he is a talented writer and that in Snow Crash he was trying to create an atmosphere and fit the tone of the book.

[ansible]

I think Snow Crash is fantastic. I keep meaning to read the Baroque Cycle, since I found books 2 and 3 on sale for like $5 each (hardcover), but I never get around to buying Quicksilver.

I'm at the very end of The Book of the Long Sun, and somehow I picked up Mistborn from the shelf and accidentally started reading it. I bought the first one so I could start the series if I wanted, but I had to go buy the next two right away. I'm on Hero of Ages now. Enjoying the series a lot, tore through the first two books, but slightly disappointed at a plot twist near the end of Well of Ascension. Ah, well.

[QuickTidal]

I'm actually quite stuck as to what to read next, not sure whether I ought to give Sullivan a quick break before getting into the 3rd book (NYPHRON RISING) of his series, and read SIDE JOBS by Butcher, THE WINDUP GIRL by Bacigalupi, or GEIST by Phillipa Ballantyne....hmmmm

I dunno, I was just not wanting to burn out on Sullivan's series as I am enjoying it so much I thought I'd throw something in between. Maybe Geist as it is a new author.

[Aptorian]

Considering you're reviewing Sulivans books, would it not be best to try and digest each book before you begin wolfing down the next instalment? So, nothing wrong with reading a book or two, or doing what ever else, between reading the next one.

Come play minecraft with us

[QuickTidal]

Aptorian, on 26 October 2010 - 07:15 PM, said:

Considering you're reviewing Sulivans books, would it not be best to try and digest each book before you begin wolfing down the next instalment? So, nothing wrong with reading a book or two, or doing what ever else, between reading the next one.

Come play minecraft with us

Ah Apt....sometimes this wisdom and logic emerges from your head. Utter sense sir. Absolutely good point.

shanks!

[Defiance]

jitsukerr, on 25 October 2010 - 09:36 AM, said:

IMO, much of the vitriol directed at books 7-10 was because people were waiting for those books for a long time, and their perceived flaws became exaggerated as a result of people's frustration. Reports from readers who get through them in sequence without having to wait are generally much more positive, now that all the books up to and including 12 are available.

Think of books 7-10 as the middle book of a very long series -- it helps. There are some important developments in 7-10 that drive much of the good stuff in 11 and 12.

I started when 10 or 11 books were out. Despite some slow parts, I enjoyed the first 6. 7 was okay. Then I started 8 and I only got 150 pages in before I gave up, because it was so excruciatingly slow.

I would like to finish the series sometime, just so that I can say I've read it. However, I'm not sure I want to invest the time to reread the first 7 books again (I remember next to nothing), and then another 7 books. There's so much other great stuff out there.

[Dag]

T77, on 20 September 2010 - 02:05 PM, said:

Dag, on 19 September 2010 - 10:17 AM, said:

Now on to Gene Wolfe's "An Evil Guest".

I'm reading it now and really like it so far. Also, reading Urh of the New Sun and it is incredible, could turn out to be my favorite of the Sun books. There is no one else like Gene Wolfe.

I haven't managed to finish "The Evil Guest". It's so boring and so badly written it hurts my brains. I think I will delete all the memories of ever having read those first 150 pages and continue to worship Wolfe as if he had never written this book.

[amphibian]

Dag, on 26 October 2010 - 08:51 PM, said:

I haven't managed to finish "The Evil Guest". It's so boring and so badly written it hurts my brains. I think I will delete all the memories of ever having read those first 150 pages and continue to worship Wolfe as if he had never written this book.

It's not actually bad. It's just more of a short story than a book.

After reading it, I basically wanted to yell at him to stop foofing around and write the ending to the Latro series. He's old. That shit won't last and there was a bit of a cliff-hanger in Soldier of Sidon.

[T77]

Dag, on 26 October 2010 - 08:51 PM, said:

I haven't managed to finish "The Evil Guest". It's so boring and so badly written it hurts my brains. I think I will delete all the memories of ever having read those first 150 pages and continue to worship Wolfe as if he had never written this book.

I just finished An Evil Guest and I enjoyed it. I can see how some would think it's slow and boring. To each his own.

[pat5150]

Just finished R. Scott Bakker's second thriller, Disciple of the Dog.

A good and entertaining read, but rushed in order to make it a page-turner. It features an unfeeling prick as the main protagonist, yet I found it impossible not to root for Disciple Manning.

Check out the blog for the full review.

Patrick